Kiro Kobra.6478

I'm primarily an Open World player, I find great joy in taking down champions solo. SEVERAL specs can do that, so it's not like I'm asking for anything OP/crazy. That said, this latest patch has made my Mesmer so freaking useless in solo Open World against champs. I have significantly less practice with my Holosmith and Spellbreaker characters, and they're wiping the floor with OW. My Mesmer, regardless of spec, is struggling HARD. ANet has completely ruined this entire class for me. So much so, I identified that every time I play my Mesmer, I'm simply not having fun AT ALL and it just pisses me off. This game has turned from "fun" to "rage inducing." As-of this morning, I have DELETED my Mesmer character entirely. F it. I don't care anymore. Time to start checking out some other classes. Currently keeping an eye on Necromancer and Guardian.

Honestly the current iteration AND previous iteration of Scrapper were bad. I don’t think it’s reasonable to spam all your gyros just to maintain quickness, but their new solution feels equally as bad. Scrapper needs to go back to the drawing board.

While I understand we're getting a shield in a couple of months, it instills a great deal of mistrust in the balance team to just intentionally gut a class and say "Yeah but in a couple months we'll make up for it." It's like if I installed 3 tires on a car and said "Yeah but in a couple months you'll get the 4th tire." You don't nerf things to counteract FUTURE buffs. You only nerf things when the buffs are CURRENT content. Holy crap ANet, run by a bunch of clowns, I swear.

Probably because there is more trait synergy, effect procs, and overall better damage/boons compared to Ranger pets. If this is ANet's actual reason and they're using "reward good positioning" as a cop-out, then perhaps the simple solution is to nerf the mech's stats in general, just not so harshly. Additionally, to address the increased trait procs, whatever it does when further than 1,000 range will not proc traits - for example, Big Boomer.

Instead of CD penalties (especially at a "hard cutoff" of 600 distance,) it'd make more sense to reduce the mech's damage, healing, and boon duration based on a distance range of 600-1,000 via a new debuff called "Signal Degradation" (or something, idk, name isn't important) that has a delay of 4 seconds. Once your mech is 600+ distance from you, the debuff activates with a 4-second delay. The purpose of the delay is to not harshly punish quick "in and out" situations, or if the target repositions quickly. The further the mech is from you (starting at 600 distance), the more those stats will get nerfed. Start at a 10% nerf at 600 distance, and by 1,000 distance it'll be 80%. Then, update the Mech's AI so that if it's outside of 1000 distance, it'll automatically reposition itself to be within 1000 distance, because "signal range is too weak" Additionally, the mech's AI will automatically reposition itself to be within 600 distance from you upon activating the commands Barrier Burst and Crisis Zone. Overall it's more complicated for the devs, but honestly the current implementation is just lazy and bad.

I'm curious to try Hammer Holosmith 🙂

Agreed. Idk if they have the resources to make compelling heat bonuses for every weapon, though. If they did something like that, it'd probably be something boring, like >= 50% heat adds an extra stack of whatever boon/condition the skill already provides.

It would make sense to allow weapon swap if no kit utilities are equipped. I hate the kits, mainly for aesthetic reasons. Especially the bomb kit, when everyone else is doing cool stuff, I'm over here plopping down bomb turds. No thanks. I foresee a lot of issues if weapon swap was allowed across-the-board, but if no kit abilities are equipped, then it should be allowed.

Virtuoso is dead in the water. Maybe once we have access to shields in the August expansion, that'll change. Until then, I'm just not gonna play this class. Every time I log in, it just pisses me off. Not fun.

I have tried toggling various traits and skill lines to see if this is a "one-time" bug (i.e., a bug that only persists until traits are changed, thus triggering correct behavior.) Unfortunately, this bug seems persistent across the board. Mug is now useless for Spectre. ANet, can we get clarification if this is intended? If so, please update your documentation.

Sickles, I can tolerate. But like I said, it's a personal thing - I'm not trying to make an omnipotent statement of fact. It'll really depend on what the axe does and how it plays/feels. If it's slow and brutish, I'll probably ignore it. If it's genuinely fun and engaging (and doesn't just turn thief into a wannabe warrior), fast-paced, and interactive with other abilities, then maybe I'll consider using one if I can find a sleek-looking axe skin. I am a style > meta player, so sue me lol.

I guess it depends on what the axe does. If it's more of a cleaving weapon with up-to 5 target skills, I would prefer it be off-hand for purely selfish reasons (Spectre outside of Shroud form has awful multi-target capabilities) Outside of that, I don't really care because I am the type of player who will not use a weapon if I personally feel it's not thematically accurate (meta be damned)... Sneaky bois don't use axes. Spooky bois do use axes.

They let the intern have a crack at coding and ended up doing something funky to Shadow Shroud. Certain traits don’t seem to trigger anymore while shroud is active, and seemingly random attacks deplete HP instead of shadow force. Some of the changes weren’t bad, but the others in conjunction with bugs has overall left a sour taste.

Literally no brain power needed, just press buttons and you’ll have perma alac.

Mug no longer heals me while in Shadow Shroud form. Before the June 27th patch, it would heal as expected. No tool-tip descriptions indicate that this is intended. A bug... or undocumented intentional nerf?

Honestly it would never happen, but in general it’d be cool if ANet redesigned their particle effects pipeline so that ANY class could adjust their “main” thematic ability color like dyes. If this were the case, my Mesmer would a red-ish magenta, my Guardian would be golden, and my Engi’s mech would be shy blue. To reiterate, that’ll never happen lol

Yes, absolutely. Mesmers of all flavors do not handle CC effects well, with the exception being Mirage with their dodge. But, that’s going to be a thing of the past after the patch. When it comes to survival, the only “real” option after the patch is going to be Virtuoso with the traited block on Bladesongs paired with traited stability from Bladesongs in Chaos. EDIT: or take Inspiration instead of Chaos and use the stability mantra. But you’ll do less damage AND you’ll need to “prep” the Mantra, thereby wasting the aegis since the initial cast doesn’t break stun. That said, a dead Mesmer does ZERO damage so, perhaps Inspiration isn’t a bad idea. For Open World, I currently run Illusions, Inspiration, Virtuoso paired with Tormenting runes. My build doesn’t generate bleeds since I’m traited into block, but the tormenting stacks quite well and I can get them to tick for over 2k damage. I run 3 pieces of celestial and 3 pieces or rampager. I can solo most open world champs. But there is little room for mistakes as Mesmer is general is quite squishy. I have died on champs that I can usually solo, all because of a small mistake. It’s high APM and not for newbies, but at the end of the day, viable. I can solo the same champs on my Spellbreaker and Mech with far fewer APM and mental effort. The differences are quite staggering, but I always come back to my Mesmer because it is thematically/aesthetically my favorite lol!

That would be barrier you're describing, and yeah, it'd make the most sense by far! I have submitted a post with similar feedback to the June 27th Patch Preview megathread, but I highly doubt they will listen...

To add even more synergy (and I'm just spitballing here), I think it'd be awesome to have some kind of "ricochet" effect in F1 (instead of a "pull in" effect) if the target is effected by cripple. This way the targets don't need to be lined up. The daggers would just bounce around! This would increase synergy with Greatsword #3 skill too!

That's not the point. Bladeturn Requiem is "supposed" to be an iconic elite spec ability, but now they're turning it into a worse version of F1. Hell, I'd rather waste my blades on F3 at this point. Mirage has stupid amounts of damage mitigation with dodges and certain axe skills. Chrono has more block options without the need to trait into it. Mirage and Chrono have actual clones, which can provide aggro rip and targeting issues in their favor. All 3 specs have distortion. This means, by comparison, Virtuoso has nothing special in terms of survivability. Sure, you can trait a certain way and lose a lot of damage, but when the other 2 specs have better survivability WITHOUT needing to trait into it, that's a problem. That is THE problem. After the June 27th patch, our F5 is inferior in EVERY SINGLE way. Our baseline survivability is inferior in EVERY SINGLE way. I understand that the block effect was a little OP, but the solution is NOT removing it without something in return. The fact that the balance team and @Cal Cohen.2358 thought this was a good idea in any way makes me believe they don't have the proper fundamental understanding for this spec.

@Cal Cohen.2358 Please hear me out on the block removal coming to Bladeturn Requiem. I have some feedback that isn't "just complaining" and I really hope you see this. This change is going to seriously diminish PvE solo/Open World capabilities. Virtuoso is already a poor choice when compared to Mirage - the differences in Open World survivability aren't minor - Virt is STAGGERINGLY behind Mirage. I'm not here just to complain, but rather, offer a suggestion that solves the OP nature of blocking from this skill in PvP AND makes Virt's survivability less "swingy." There is no denying that Virt in its current state is nearly immortal when our skills are available. But the very moment things are on cooldown, it's almost like we insta-die. Solution: 1. Bladeturn Requiem. should generate barrier instead of, well, nothing at all. The animation already suggests a barrier of some sort - it would be fitting. 2. Jagged Mind. should no longer heal, but rather, generate barrier. "Why barrier?" 1. In comparison to blocking, barrier is inferior in every way. It's purely a damage soak, but doesn't prevent CC, movement impairment, and other non-damaging effects. Block DOES prevent those things. This would satisfy the concerns you have in PvP. 2. Virt severely lacks any meaningful survivability when it comes to small attacks, especially from multiple enemies. Block only works on a SINGLE attack, which is basically useless against multiple small mobs. Barrier would satisfy this flaw perfectly without making us OP against strong/coordinated attacks and special effects, both in PvE and PvP. An example and comparison: It is completely insane that I can face-tank raptors on my Warrior, but have a completely awful experience on Mesmer against them. 3. This change would allow us to be preventative at the start of a fight, if we so choose. Meaning, initial attacks at range would generate some barrier with full HP, giving us just a little more soaking potential. I want to emphasize again that we'd still be susceptible to special effects and CC. I genuinely do not think this would be OP in any way. I think giving us some barrier generation options would not only fit the Virtuoso thematically, but would put this spec on-par with Mirage. I really want to emphasize that the survivability AND damage output of Mirage is MILES ahead of Virtuoso, even if these barrier suggestions were real, I'd argue Mirage would likely STILL be better, but, at least Virt wouldn't be totally out-classed. I don't mean to be rude, but, my goodness, it's disappointing and frustrating (as someone who enjoys Virt) that we're getting the glass cannon treatment when Mirage exists in the same breath. It implies to me there there is no fundamental understanding for the Virt spec and therefore the team is not properly equipped/educated to balance it. This is not me seeking to be rude, I am just expressing how this change preview makes me feel towards the balance team. Anyways, in summary: I think barrier generation would be the perfect middle-ground between block and, uh, literally nothing.

With the up-coming cooldown nerfs coming on the June 27th patch, your question highlights a pretty big issue actually. (for those who don't know, they intend on increasing the CD duration on your Mech skills if you're more than 600 distance away) Standing next to the wrong Mech is going to feel awful. We definitely need some more customization options for Mech to easily tell which is which, or if not for anything else, not to look silly in your outfit next to your drastically miss-matched Mech!

If ANet sticks with the F5 block removal (and thus far, seems like they're not going to replace it with ANYTHING), Virt survivability in Open World is going down the toilet. It's already "not good" compared to Mirage, after the patch it'll be even worse. At this very moment in time, yes, Virt can do a lot and live to tell the tale. But after June 27th, that's all going away. They're taking an already "bad by comparison" spec and making it worse.

The trait Bladeturn Refrain accomplishes this, which is in the same row as Jagged Mind, the trait that I am suggesting should generate barrier instead of healing. So if you prefer block on Bladesong use, this is absolutely an option and wouldn't conflict with your choice. In fact, I think if Bladeturn Requiem generated base barrier as a compromise for ANet removing the base block, Bladeturn Refrain would be the perfect companion and still well balanced. See, the current "problem" that ANet sees with Bladeturn Requiem is that the block ticks several times, allowing us to block multiple attacks. If this skill instead generated a small amount of barrier in addition to a SINGLE block from Bladeturn Refrain, this would not only be a much-needed nerf in PvP, but it would simultaneously provide some much-needed damage mitigation from multiple/small attacks thanks to the accompanying barrier. As an added bonus to PvP balance, I also want to just mention that barrier DOES NOT prevent CC and other movement impairing effects . It is purely damage mitigation. Honestly giving Virt barrier seems like such a no-brainer here. A note on Jagged Mind generating barrier: It wouldn't be OP at all, since it would require landing attacks to generate in the first place, while Bladeturn Refrain is basically an on-demand block that requires no target. I guess in summary, barrier is still the PERFECT and most reasonable solution to Virt's "swingy" survivability in ALL game modes.

Regarding the June 27th Patch Preview... Bladeturn Requiem's block removal is trash, garbage, smooth-brained. Sure, it can be OP in some PvP situations, but you're throwing the baby out with the bath water here. Did I emphasize enough how crappy this change is? Bye-bye PvE survivability! Our only option for solo PvE is Staff Mirage, and... No, no that's it. Staff Mirage. How about we get some Barrier on Virtuoso instead? That way we have some survivability against multiple attacks while simultaneously keeping us vulnerable to heavy-hitting attacks. This would fulfill the PvP dilemma and retain some much-needed survivability. Give Bladeturn Requiem a barrier since the animation would already make sense, and maybe change the trait "Jagged Mind" to generate barrier instead of healing. In the current meta, Virtuoso is literally unkillable when our abilities are off cooldown, but we also melt like a snowball in hell the very second we run out of utility skills. Replacing block and Jagged Mind's heal with barrier would be the best middle-ground. Freaking do it!